Beef Production
Marketing replacement heifers and bred heifers can be a great method of diversifying your income stream. However, knowing how to display the value of these heifers is a critical component of making it successful.
A review of supplementation programs as a means to adding profit potential to cow-calf operations.
Although drought persists north and south of Oklahoma, forage conditions have improved greatly in the state this summer. July was the seventh wettest July on record in Oklahoma.
While fall calving is often easier than calving in the winter and early spring, when temperatures are high, it can create unhealthy conditions for calves.
While we can’t control the heat, there are some things we can control to help cattle through it.
When $1 lower bids failed, packers reduced bids even more, encouraging some feeders to sacrifice ground to secure a spot for some ready cattle.
Fed cattle trade was called moderate to active in all regions with lower prices. Friday’s cattle on feed report saw significant reductions in feedyard placements.
Dr. Troy Rowan with the University of Tennessee discussed sequencing strategies to enhance the next generation of genetic evaluations during the Beef Improvement Federation Symposium July 4 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Grazing cornstalks or drought-stricken corn can fill feed gaps during drought, says University of Missouri Extension beef nutritionist Eric Bailey.
Have you ever looked at a feed analysis and thought the information was confusing? A forage analysis is an important tool to improve profitability when developing nutritional programs for all classes of beef cattle.
Weaning stressors include removal from the dam, nutritional changes, a new environment, and altered social structure. Understanding this time allows a better understanding of the importance of a 45-day weaning period.
Following over a year of drought, a recent poll of Drovers readers shared pasture conditions across the U.S and Canada. With varying degrees of improvement, here’s an inside look at current pasture and range conditions.
Dynamic cattle and grain market conditions mean that producers will need to carefully and frequently evaluate stocker budget prospects this fall prior to stocker purchase.
Cattle inventories simply are not large enough for the packer to build any market leverage. Reluctantly, packers bought cattle at steady to higher money and cowboys will seek more this week.
Cash cattle trade was sluggish as feeders and packers dig in their heels. Feeder cattle and calf prices continue marching higher even as drought sends some early-weaned calves to market.
During drought, beef producers might find a best friend in their local veterinarian, says University of Missouri Extension veterinary toxicologist Tim Evans.
Weaning can be a stressful period for livestock and humans but making the extra effort to reduce stress on calves can lead to increased performance in the form of less illness and increased weight gain.
SRM released a report titled “Rangeland Ecosystem Services: Connecting Nature and People” which defines five services and how ranchers can impact those services through range management.
Austin Kings, rural crimes investigator for Missouri Highway Patrol, takes a look at how a criminal might view your farm and home—what they see that producers don’t, and how producers can prevent becoming a target.
Cattle feeders continue to gain market leverage as packers see pressure from declining wholesale beef prices. Pork producer margins remain solidly in the black.
When buying a 4-H steer or other beef animal from a local producer, how much beef can you expect after processing? Check out these tips to calculate how much meat one beef animal will return.
One of the most important tools for livestock producers is a sharp No. 2 pencil. The pencil and some basic arithmetic can help take the emotion out of desperate measures to find feed.
Cattle feeders were rewarded in last week’s standoff with higher prices in all regions. Packers will continue to slow harvest rates in an effort to hold the market in check.
Despite sharply higher cattle prices, there is no data to suggest heifer retention or enough decrease in beef cow slaughter to initiate herd expansion, although the most recent weekly slaughter data are encouraging.
Drought stressed forages can be high in nitrates and potentially toxic for cattle, but with careful management there are options for ranchers to utilize those forages.
Dry lotting cows can be a feasible way to allow pasture recovery, while feeding grain, forage, and crop stover to pairs. The system allows closer observation of the herd and low weaning stress.
Packers are picking around the edges and dragging their feet when looking at higher asking prices, but the bull market remains in place with the cattle feeder gaining leverage each week.
Cow-calf producers are looking at the potential for significant profits for 2023 due to high calf prices. This income may give cow-calf producers the rare opportunity to invest capital back into the ranch.
Cattle producers on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, Arron Nerbas shares how implementing bale grazing and focusing on genetic selections has allowed their family to maximize their time and land resources each year.
Composting livestock manure will increase the volume reduction compared to stockpiling, as well as reduce internal and external parasites, pathogens and weed seeds.